Phonological Features

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Sound Effects

Phonological studies:

• phonemes / segments
• supra-segmental features

Level	Features
Phonemes / segments	consonants, vowels, semi-vowels, diphthongs, consonant clusters
Supra-segmental features	syllables, stress, tone, intonation, vowel length, pause, speech rate, rhythm

English Phonology

Category	Examples
Consonants	/p/, /t/
Vowels	/i:/, /u:/
Semi-vowels	/w/, /j/
Diphthongs	/ei/, /ou/
Consonant clusters	/pl/, /sp/, /sk/, /fl/, /gl/, /sl/

Phonaesthesia

\[\text{Phonaesthesia} = \text{sound symbolism}\]

Sound patterns suggest sensory or psychological meanings.

Pattern	Association	Examples
open vs. closed vowels	size / weight / openness	splish, splash, splosh
front vowels	small, thin, sharp, light	tittle, bit, thin, slit, sliver
back vowels	deep, heavy, dark	gloom, boom, loom
/fl-/	sudden movement	flap, flare, fling, flick, flop
/gl-/	light	gleam, glare, glint, glitter, glisten
/sl-/	smooth / wet surface	slippery, slide, slime, slushy
/-le/, /-er/	repetition / small repeated movement	bubble, twinkle, ripple, mutter, flutter

Example

Tennyson, Come Down, O Maid

The moan of doves in immemorial elms,

And murmuring of innumerable bees...

• Repeated nasal sounds, especially /m/.
• moan, immemorial, murmuring, innumerable.
• Effect: soft, continuous, humming, dreamy.

Example

Keats, To Autumn

Or by a cider press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

• oozings has slow, lingering vowel movement.
• hours by hours slows rhythm.
• Effect: patient, slow, autumnal, lingering.

Onomatopoeia

\[\text{Onomatopoeia} = \text{sound imitation}\]

Examples:

• buzz
• hiss
• tick-tock
• cock-a-doodle-doo

Characteristics:

• universal phenomenon
• small share of vocabulary
• culturally shaped by phonotactics
• vivid and impressive
• common in nursery rhymes, comic books, advertisements, literary works

Language	Common Pattern
English	mostly nouns and verbs; often monosyllabic
Chinese	mostly adjectives and adverbs; often reduplication

Example

Thomas Nashe, Spring

Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king;

then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring;

cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing;

Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-wo!

• End rhyme: Spring / king / thing / ring / sting / sing.
• Onomatopoeia: Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-wo.
• Effect: lively, musical, cheerful spring atmosphere.

Example

白居易, 《琵琶行》

大弦嘈嘈如急雨，小弦切切如私语。

岂无山歌与村笛？呕哑嘲哳难为听。

Chinese	Translation	Effect
嘈嘈 / 切切	thrummed, pattering, tinkled, murmuring	musical texture
呕哑嘲哳	crude and strident, grate the ear, rough jangles jar	harsh, unpleasant sound

Syllable Structure

\[\text{CVC}: C = \text{consonant},\quad V = \text{vowel}\]

Language	Typical Structure	Notes
Chinese	monosyllabic, (C)V(n)	双声, 叠韵
English	multi-syllabic, (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C)	complex consonant clusters

Chinese sound patterns:

• 双声: same or similar initial consonants, e.g. 犹豫, 慷慨, 崎岖
• 叠韵: same or similar finals, e.g. 苗条, 蜿蜒, 蹉跎

荡漾处多用叠韵，促节处多用双声。

Rhyming

\[\text{Rhyme} = \text{repetition of the same or similar sound in similar positions}\]

Effects:

• musical
• poetic
• emphatic
• cohesive
• memorable

Types

\(C_3^2 + C_3^1 = 3 + 3 = 6\)

Type	Pattern	Example
Rhyme	CVC	send / mend
Pararhyme	CVC	send / sound
Reverse rhyme	CVC	great / graze
Alliteration	CVC	great / grow
Assonance	CVC	send / bell
Consonance	CVC	sent / faint

• semi-rhyme: mend / ending
• imperfect rhyme: caring / wing
• eye rhyme: though / tough
• masculine rhyme: hat / cat / mat
• feminine rhyme: stranger / danger
• triple rhyme: mystery / history

Example

Poe, The Raven

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me-filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

Only this and nothing more.

• silken / sad: alliteration.
• thrilled / filled: rhyme.
• rustling / curtain: soft friction-like sound.
• Effect: gothic, musical, haunting.

Rhyme Scheme

\[\text{Rhyme scheme} = \text{pattern of end rhymes in a poem or stanza}\]

Common schemes:

Scheme	Form
Couplet	AABBCCDD
Alternate rhyme	ABAB CDCD EFEF
Enclosed rhyme	ABBA
Shakespearean sonnet	ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Frost chain rhyme	AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD
Villanelle	ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA
Keatsian ode	ABABCDECDE
Rhyme royal	ABABBCC

Example

Ten Little Soldier Boys

Ten little soldier boys went out to dine; (A)

One choked his little self and then there were nine. (A)

Nine little soldier boys sat up very late; (B)

One overslept himself and then there were eight. (B)

Scheme: AABB.

Example

Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Stanza	Scheme
1	AABA
2	BBCB
3	CCDC
4	DDDD

• Chain rhyme creates quiet forward movement.
• Repetition of And miles to go before I sleep creates echo and depth.
• sleep: literal rest + possible death.

Example

Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

Scheme:

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Final couplet:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

• see / thee: heroic couplet-like closure.
• Effect: balance, elegance, argumentative progression, immortality through poetry.

Example

Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Scheme:

ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA

Refrains:

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

• Tight two-rhyme structure.
• Repetition creates urgency, obsession, incantatory force.

Metrics

\[\text{Metrics} = \text{pace and breathing of poetry}\]

Measurement:

\[\text{Syllables} \rightarrow \text{Foot} \rightarrow \text{Meter}\]

Foot

\[\text{Foot} = \text{recurring unit of rhythm}\]

Foot	Pattern	Example
iamb	˘ -	away, at once
trochee (adj. trochatic)	- ˘	only, hope so
anapest	˘ ˘ -	intervene
dactyl	- ˘ ˘	happily

Meter

\[\text{Meter} = \text{number of recurring feet in one line}\]

Meter	Feet
Dimeter	2
Trimeter	3
Tetrameter	4
Pentameter	5
Hexameter	6
Heptameter	7
Octameter	8

Common patterns:

Pattern	Effect	Example
Iambic pentameter	balanced, elevated, natural-serious	To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Iambic tetrameter	natural, quiet, reflective	The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
Trochaic tetrameter	assertive, chant-like, energetic	Tiger! Tiger! Burning bright
Anapestic tetrameter	forward-driving, tense, galloping	The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold
Dactylic tetrameter	falling, declining, sad	We that had loved him so, followed him, honored him

Poetic Forms

Form	Definition	Effect
Blank verse	unrhymed iambic pentameter	elevated but flexible, dramatic
Heroic couplet	rhymed pair of iambic pentameter lines	balanced, formal, conclusive
Parody	imitation + exaggeration of noticeable features	comic effect

Example

Blank verse:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer...

• Unrhymed.
• Iambic pentameter.
• Poetic yet close to dramatic speech.

Example

Heroic couplet:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Check:

• end rhyme
• iambic pentameter
• possible alliteration / assonance

Example

Parody:

• imitate a writer, work, or genre
• exaggerate noticeable features
• produce comic effect

Success depends on recognizing style markers:

• rhyme scheme
• meter
• repetition
• tone
• diction
• imagery
• sentence pattern

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